


Will Always Find

by minkhollow



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Bechdel Test Pass, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-23 18:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minkhollow/pseuds/minkhollow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucas and Blanchard are good at finding people, so someone who's lost someone asks for their help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Started for an AU prompt meme, request of Red and Snow in a noir/detectives AU, f/f optional. Continued because I was having too much fun to leave it off there. Many, many thanks to ashenkey for helping me brainstorm this thing.  
> I gratuitously mixed Storybrooke and FTL names for the heck of it.  
> I am not ABC; I'm just borrowing for a little fun.

The police aren’t keen on hiring werewolves, which has never made much sense to Ruby; you’d think they’d want the nose on their side. And Mary – well, she has nowhere else to go.

No one wants to be caught crossing her stepmother.

But she’s an asset to the business; for one thing, her typing is a hell of a lot better than Ruby’s has ever been. And for another, she’s actually a pretty good investigator in her own right. Ruby’s glad to call her a partner.

(And if they occasionally end up in bed together after a long case, or a long night at the bar, or... really, without much provocation at all, Ruby can’t say she minds that, either.)

They’re minding their own business one afternoon when a guy comes in. Ruby’s eyes tell her he’s cute; her nose tells her he spends a lot of his time outdoors (her kind of man, then). He hesitates in front of Ruby’s desk for so long that she finally decides to lend him a hand.

“How can we help you?”

“I – I’ve heard you’re good at finding people?” he says, uncertain and maybe a touch hopeful.

“We do a pretty good job, I like to think. Who’ve you lost?”

“My wife. Well, my ex-wife – we were just finalizing the divorce.”

Mary raises an eyebrow. “We don’t see many exes looking for our help. They’re usually pretty upset to see us.”

The guy shrugs. “Well... I know Abigail. We weren’t splitting on bad terms, it’s just that our parents set us up in the first place and we never really clicked. She only has good things ahead of her. There’s no reason for her to disappear like this.”

“Okay.” Ruby pulls out a notebook. “Mr. Nolan, I presume?” Abigail Nolan, formerly Goldberg, has quite a reputation in political circles, which leaves Ruby inclined to take this guy at his word. Besides, he doesn’t smell like he’s lying.

Worried, definitely; lying, not so much.

He nods. “Please, call me James. I moved out of the house last month, so I can’t give you a full timeline, but I know she had a meeting with the mayor last night.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby sees Mary blanch, but James glances her way before Ruby can mention it – and Mary puts on a brave face for him. Interesting.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone got on Her Gracious Majesty’s bad side.” The nickname’s one Ruby’s picked up from one too many cases around the local criminal underworld, but despite its roots, there’s a ring of truth to it. Regina Mills hasn’t shown any sign of giving up office without one hell of a fight.

And with election season coming up, and Abigail Nolan having expressed some interest in the seat before? It’s starting to sound like a motive to her. Of course, whether it sticks is a question of evidence, not to mention who gets to Gold first; he’s known to play both sides of any given altercation like a fiddle, but it’s easier to talk him into seeing maximum benefit from your side if you get the first word.

“No, it wouldn’t.” James sighs. “That’s what has me worried. Just because I never loved Abigail doesn’t mean I wished any harm on her.”

“We’ll see what we can find out. Thanks for letting us know.”

James smiles, a little shakily. “Thank you both.”

After he leaves, Ruby turns to Mary. “You all right?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. It’s just – why does everything come down to tangling with my stepmother?”

“Probably because the police are too chicken to do it themselves.” Ruby pulls Mary into a hug. “Don’t worry. We’ve done this often enough that we know how to work around her – you’ll hardly know she’s a part of this. Worse comes to worst, I’ll let you go interview James some more.”

“Ruby! He’s married! Technically, anyway.” Mary’s blushing; Ruby can tell that without pulling away from the hug.

“All the more reason for us to find Abigail, then. If we can talk him into it, I don’t think he’d mind sharing us – I know I wouldn’t.”

Mary blushes even harder, and breaks the hug. “We should. Leads. Figure out which ones we have.”

Ruby laughs. “Yes, dear.”


	2. Chapter 2

Their first stop is the Nolan house, a cheerful little property not far from Storybrooke’s downtown. Ruby’s not sure at first why James would back out of it so willingly – until she sees a large patch in the grass that’s started growing in, but clearly been sheltered from the sun for a long time.

“An RV,” Mary says. “I wonder where he took it.”

“Into the woods, is my guess.” Ruby can’t blame him at all, considering how many nights she spends outdoors (all of them, in the summer; as often as the weather permits and every full moon, the rest of the year). “Come on, let’s find ourselves a way in.”

The front door’s locked, but there’s a walk-in door to the basement that’s open; once they’re in the living room, Ruby closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She can tune out her own scent by default; much as she likes Mary’s, she filters hers out as well.

“Well, James has been here in the last couple of weeks,” she says, after she’s had time to process everything she smells.

“They are in the middle of the divorce, though. Maybe he came over to go through some of the paperwork?”

Ruby nods. “That’s what I’m thinking. He hasn’t been here overnight; his scent’s not nearly pervasive enough for that. The only person who’s been here long-term lately is Abigail. She left mid-afternoon yesterday, and she wasn’t in distress when she left. And James wasn’t here at all yesterday.”

“I – you don’t think he was involved after all, do you?” There’s a quaver to Mary’s voice that she’d probably deny being there if Ruby pointed it out.

“Relax, Mary. I believed him when he said he wasn’t involved, but I had to find the evidence to back up his story.” Ruby moves to the front door and eyes the lock for a moment; there’s no sign that someone without a key came in, which backs up the lack of distress in Abigail’s scent trail.

Of course, there are rumors that Mayor Mills has keys to everything in town, but that’s another story.

“Problem is, there’s no way she couldn’t have driven from here to her meeting, and there’s no way I can track a car. Can I set you to tracking down the car and I’ll take care of some other stuff?”

“Sure.” Mary’s eyes, Ruby notices when she turns around, are on the sparse patch where the RV had been parked. “And I’ll call you when I’ve found the car.”

“Naturally. Just – do me a favor, if you do talk to James again, don’t tell him how we’re doing? It’s probably better if all three of us talk that over.”

Mary blushes, but she nods. “What’s your plan?”

“Someone’s got to brave your darling stepmother.” It’s not something Ruby’s looking forward to; she generally doesn’t. But time is of the essence, if they want to find Abigail alive (and she does).

She might as well get the obvious lead out of the way; it’ll free up time later if that one turns out to be wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

The mayor’s office tends to give Ruby the creeps. It smells way too clean; it’s like Regina keeps it sterilized specifically to keep her from learning anything useful while she’s there.

All told, she wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case.

Regina’s seated at her desk when Ruby comes in, working on who knows what in the way of paperwork; she looks up, all poisonously polite smile, and says, “Miss Lucas. To what do I owe the pleasure today?”

Ruby helps herself to the chair opposite the desk before Regina can invite her to it. “Don’t know that I’d call it a pleasure, Madam Mayor. Not when someone’s been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped? Well, that’s unfortunate. Who seems to have gone missing this time?”

She’s not giving anything away; that was likely too much to hope for, but a girl can always dream. “Abigail Nolan. Her husband came in earlier to report it.”

“Well, she is a grown woman, Miss Lucas. And in the middle of a divorce, at that. One would hope you’ve considered the possibilities in both of those facts.”

Ruby bites back a sigh; she doesn’t plan on showing Her Gracious Majesty any signs that she’s getting under her skin. “Oh, I have. First, her husband’s story checks out relative to the evidence at the house, and he’s too worried about her to be involved in this. Second, your biggest competition for the mayoral office deciding to skip town three months before the election? I don’t think so. Not to mention, James said she was supposed to meet with you last night. I have to account for that.”

“Ah.” Regina relaxes just the tiniest fraction. “We did meet last night. Just a friendly dinner between fellow candidates. So far as I was aware, she made it safely home.”

“I’ll be looking into that,” Ruby says, though she’s already pretty certain they won’t be able to pin much to Regina, if it was in fact her. As usual.

(Her phone buzzes in her pocket, but she lets it go to voicemail; she’ll call Mary back when she’s done here.)

“Naturally, Miss Lucas. And how is dear Mary Margaret?” Regina’s the only person Ruby’s ever met who actually uses Mary’s middle name as a matter of course.

“Better now that you’re not trying to ruin her life quite as actively. As to our case, since I know it’s on the tip of your tongue, I don’t have any leads yet. Believe it or not, a gun that’s been missing for fifteen years is pretty hard to find.”

Regina sighs. “Considering how long I tried to find the damn thing myself, I’m well aware. Do let me know if you find anything.”

“As long as you don’t try to kill my partner again, the deal stands.”

Regina nods, and Ruby leaves it at that; neither of them need to rehash that conversation. Whatever else she’s done, Mayor Mills was badly wronged, either by her boyfriend or her mother, and she’s convinced the answers lay with the weapon that did it – which conveniently disappeared before the police showed up, according to the newspapers from the time.

But Ruby made Regina choose between answers or revenge for... whatever it is she thinks Mary had to do with the situation. That part’s still not clear. So far, to Ruby and Mary’s mutual relief, Regina’s chosen answers.

“Will that be all?” Regina asks, just as Ruby’s phone starts buzzing again; she nods, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she gets up.

“For now, it will. Until next time, Madam Mayor.”

As soon as she’s out of Regina’s office, Ruby accepts the call. “Hey, Mary. What’s up?”

“I found the car. It’s out in the woods, but I don’t know who drove it here.”

“Text me directions. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”


	4. Chapter 4

Ruby drives as far into the woods as she’s comfortable doing, based on Mary’s directions, and goes the rest of the way on foot; it’s not far, at that point, and it’s easier for her to follow scent trails than GPS coordinates once she gets far enough in.

Five minutes from where she parked her car, she finds Mary’s car, parked behind a blue Saab. Mary’s walking around the Saab, doing her best to examine it without touching anything.

“Mary? You sounded a little wigged out on the phone.”

Mary glances at Ruby, and shrugs. “Well, for one thing, this spot’s headed away from downtown, like she was going back to the house,” she says. “For another... well.” She points across a clearing, to a pickup truck – and an RV.

“I think I see the problem,” Ruby says, before heading for the RV. Mary follows her after a couple seconds; she’s by Ruby’s side by the time Ruby gets to the RV’s door and knocks.

“Ruby,” James says, when he opens the door. “Mary. Did you find Abigail?”

“Not yet, but I think we have a slight problem.” Ruby points over her shoulder, in the Saab’s direction. “That your wife’s car?”

James looks – and goes pale. “Yeah. Yeah, it is, but I have no idea how it got here.”

“Give Ruby two minutes and she’ll find out,” Mary says. “But I think you’re lucky you came to us instead of the police – they probably would’ve taken this at face value.”

Ruby nods. “I know this looks bad on the surface, but the scent trails at the house were on your side, and I have a feeling the scent trails in the car will be too. Can we come in first? I think we need to know a little more about the circumstances of your marriage.”

“Sure.” James backs up the RV’s steps and away from the door; once Ruby and Mary are inside, he leads them to a small seating area. “You guys want anything to drink? I’ve got water, beer and orange juice.”

Ruby shakes her head; she’s no fan of water for water’s sake, and either of the others will just block her nose when the time comes to check out the car.

“I’ll take some juice,” Mary says. (Ruby pretends not to notice how James grins at that, or the moment when their hands brush as he hands her the glass. When he glances Ruby’s way, though, she can’t resist the urge to wink at him.)

“So,” Ruby says, once James has settled in with a beer, “how’d a nice boy like you end up married to Abigail Goldberg?”

James picks at the label on his beer bottle for a while before he answers. “Her father and mine are good friends. Her family has money coming out of their ears, but not enough status to back it up, and mine’s got plenty of status but no money to speak of after the dot-com bubble. Originally, they wanted to set her up with my brother.”

Ruby raises her eyebrows (she never did get the hang of raising just one). “Your brother?”

But Mary’s already saying, “That’s right, there were two of you.”

“Yeah, and David would have been better at what Dad wanted. I was in Boy Scouts for the outdoor-life stuff; he was in it for the social advantages of making Eagle.” James sighs. “But as soon as he could get drunk legally, he did, and he flipped his car in an effort to impress his friends. Anyway, at first Midas wasn’t sure he’d be able to hand off the business to his daughter – he shouldn’t have worried, Abigail’s been running it just fine – and Dad wanted the chunk of change that’d come with Abigail marrying into the family, so they had the whole thing set up and didn’t see any reason to change their plans just because David died before they could have the wedding.”

“So they dragged you into it instead.”

“That they did. I mean, Abigail’s a wonderful person. It’s just that she deserves someone she has common interests with. I get twitchy if I can’t spend a little time outdoors and she hates camping – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I can’t keep up with her when she starts talking business, I’d be a terrible political husband... the whole thing’s just a train wreck.”

“Then why wait so long to divorce?” Ruby says. That’s been bugging her for a while now, and James’s story only makes it more apparent that they probably should have started the process sooner.

“Midas finally admitted she’s got the business well in hand. Since he’s not worried about that anymore, we figured it was time to call it quits. I’m just glad we never had kids.”

Mary’s quiet for a while, sipping her juice and looking lost in thought – but before Ruby can ask if she’s all right, she snaps herself out of it. “How’d your father take the news?”

“Not... exactly gracefully,” James admits, with a wry smile. “Especially since our plan is to let Abigail keep the house and the lion’s share of the money. She’ll get more use out of it than I will, and I’ll have enough to get some property I’ll enjoy out the other end. But Dad thinks the fact that we don’t quite mesh is no reason to get a divorce. He always was a bit of a traditionalist.”

“But the traditional view only works if you find the right person. Dad was – never quite the same after my mother died.”

That’s the closest Ruby’s ever heard Mary get to admitting her father wasn’t the wonderful guy she always saw (as opposed to the controlling douchebag Mayor Mills made him out to be); it’s interesting that it should come up now. But she’ll have to ask about it later. All the backstory in the world isn’t going to answer the most pressing question here.

“There’s one more thing we have to figure out,” she says. “And that’s who dumped the car here. Clever of them to figure out where you were camping, but I highly doubt they had the presence of mind to pack the car full of cloves or something before they left.”

“Even I would’ve noticed that strong of a scent,” Mary points out.

“Very true. Shall we?” She’s up and out the RV’s door before either Mary or James get a chance to say anything, but they both follow her outside. Ruby heads right for the Saab; a quick glance in the windows tells her it’s unlocked, so she opens the front passenger door and inhales – and freezes.

“Ruby?” Mary says. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, just...” Ruby pulls her head out of the car and closes the door. “The mayor had nothing to do with this, unless she suddenly decided Sidney Glass isn’t good enough to do her dirty work anymore.”

James frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I recognize the scent trail. It’s the same guy who snatched Belle French out of the library last month.”


	5. Chapter 5

The obvious place to go, based on that information, is the library. Ruby doesn’t want Gold thinking she’s calling in the favor he owes her (for realizing Belle was in trouble and rescuing her from being committed to Storybrooke General’s mind-wiping program) just yet; she’s damn well going to make that favor count. And while she doesn’t expect Belle to rat Gold out, if he’s involved, she’ll know a thing or two about the shape of things.

(Honestly, Ruby has no idea what Belle sees in the guy; he’s a slimy bastard and at least twice their age. But there was a time she didn’t think anyone could see any good in her, either, so who is she to disrupt it?)

Mary decides to stay and talk to James some more. If they’re not making out within the hour, Ruby’s going to be very surprised – and if kidnappings weren’t such time-sensitive things, she’d stay and join in. But there’ll be time for that after she finds Abigail, she hopes.

By the time she gets to the library, most of the town’s businesses would be calling it a day, but if Ruby knows Belle at all, she’ll be in for at least another couple hours. Sure enough, the door’s still unlocked, so she heads in. “Belle?”

“Just a minute!” Belle calls from somewhere in the stacks. Rather than try to meet her halfway, Ruby heads for the circulation desk, taking in the library’s smells as she does so. In general, old books aren’t Ruby’s thing, but Belle has a way of making the place feel homey despite that.

It’s not long before Belle emerges from the stacks. “Ruby! I didn’t know you were coming. What do you need?”

“I... had a couple questions, actually. First one’s strictly for elimination purposes – has Gold said anything to you about trying to get the guy who dragged you to the hospital for a job?”

Belle’s smile fades. “He hasn’t, no. Why?”

“Because that guy snatched Abigail Nolan and tried to make it look like her husband did it. It rules out Mayor Mills, but I needed to make sure Gold didn’t have his fingers in this pie either.”

“I don’t think he would have bothered making a deal with him, if he found him.”

“You got a point there.” And she does; unlike Regina, Gold’s not afraid to get his hands dirty in defense of the few people he cares about (and he knows enough legalese to weasel out of court). Ruby sighs. “In that case, do you have any maps of underground spaces in town? I’m entirely working on a hunch here, but Abigail wouldn’t merit the mind-wipe program.”

“No, she likely wouldn’t. She’s too valuable to the community.” Belle opens a drawer on the card catalog – she’s resisted every attempt to digitize its contents, on the grounds that it’s easier to do it the old-fashioned way if you know what you’re doing. “I do have maps that’ll suit your purpose, though. What is it you’re looking for?”

“Is there any underground access between Goldberg Investments and the Nolan estate? George Nolan, that is.”

It’s completely a shot in the dark, on Ruby’s part, but it’s one that she thinks is worth taking. Everything James has had to say paints Abigail as the sort of person to go back to the office for some late-night paperwork, if it’s necessary and she’s already downtown. And if Mayor Mills isn’t involved, and Gold’s unlikely to have tracked down the party responsible for abducting his girlfriend just to hire him... well, that leaves the pissed off father-in-law as the person with the most motive. She doesn’t doubt that he’d create the means and opportunity if he thought he had to.

“Hmm.” Belle starts flipping through the card catalog. “Off the top of my head I’m not sure, but the maps will know. At the very least, with the old mine there’s a good chance. We just need to find the right--” By the time she looks up from the card catalog, she’s got four different cards in hand.

“How do you do that so fast?”

Belle smiles. “Trade secret, Ruby. If books had scent trails you’d already be there.” She heads for the map table, and Ruby follows; when she gets there, Belle’s hauling open a drawer.

“One of these should have your answer on it. I don’t know the business address, so I thought it better if we check them all.”

“The maps will say, right?” Ruby says, moving around the table to get a better look.

“Of course. They wouldn’t be very useful maps if they didn’t.”

Ruby concedes the point, and they spend a long few minutes examining the maps. (Well, it feels long to Ruby, but then, she never did like the parts of the job that aren’t pursuing people as much.) Finally, Belle taps a spot on the map furthest from Ruby.

“This looks promising,” she says. “It’d be a steep climb coming or going from the business, but it looks like one of the shallower mining tunnels got turned into a sub-basement along that block. I doubt all the buildings along the way use it, either.”

“So it’d be a perfect secret lair, in other words.” _And a great place to stash a body,_ a treacherous part of Ruby’s mind adds; she ignores it. She’s got time to find Abigail alive. They haven’t hit 48 hours yet. “Thanks, Belle, you’re a rock star. I’d better get going before I blow my advantage.”

“Any time, Ruby. And if you ever want to check out a book, let me know.”

Ruby laughs – it’s a joke they’ve been trading since Belle started spending her high school study halls running the school’s sorry excuse for a library – and pulls her phone out of her pocket as she heads out the door. She should call Mary and James and give them an update, but she has another call to make first.

(Besides, if they’ve gotten around to making out, she doesn’t want to ruin the moment.)

She punches number three on her speed dial, and the line picks up as she’s starting her car.

“Yes?”

“Hey, Sarge, it’s Ruby. Any chance you can meet me at Goldberg Investments? I’m trying to close out a kidnapping case and I think I can get to the answers from there.”


	6. Chapter 6

Since she did the courtesy of waiting to drive until she was off the phone, what with being on the phone with the police and all, by the time Ruby gets to the Goldberg office building, Sergeant Hua’s car is already parked out front. In what Ruby’s half certain is a no-parking zone, but who’s she to argue with the cops?

Anyway, she pulls her Camaro into a street-legal space and gets out; Hua meets her halfway to the door. “Ruby.”

“Sarge. How’s Aurora?”

“Fine, thank you.” Hua never smiles, but sometimes, when her girlfriend comes up, she gets close. “And Mary?”

Ruby grins. “Just fine. Probably more than fine right now, actually. Anyway, as for the case at hand, I don’t know what I’m going to walk into here, so I figured I’d call you in before it got bad.”

“Funny. If someone’s been kidnapped, I would think it was pretty bad already.”

“You know what I mean, Sarge. The people who set this up didn’t think far enough ahead to scent-bomb Abigail’s car, so I don’t _think_ anyone we might encounter down there’s going to have silver weapons, but I’d rather not take the chance.”

Hua nods, and unlocks the front door to the office building. “Sensible enough. Who do you think was behind this, then, the mayor?”

“Actually, no. Not Gold, either. My money, such as it is, is on George Nolan. He has a lot riding on his son staying married, it turns out, and there’s an old mine tunnel connecting this building to his house. Other than ditching Abigail’s car, he could literally do it all underground.”

“I take it the car tripped him up?”

“Oh, did it ever,” Ruby says. “That and the fact that there are only so many unaffiliated petty criminals in this town. Anyway, I think we’ve got a bit of a climb ahead of us, and I don’t know what kind of shape Abigail’s in, so--”

“The sooner, the better,” Hua says, already heading for the nearest elevator.

The elevator only takes them as far as the basement, but there are stairs in a half-forgotten corner. Belle was right; it’s going to be one hell of a steep climb. At least someone’s already taken the time to put the stairs in.

Before she can head down, Hua puts out an arm to stop her, and takes a photo of the stairs with her phone’s camera. “Fresh footprints in the dust,” she says. “And there’s only one set, so that’ll tell us something about who used these stairs before we got here. Do you smell anything useful?”

Ruby takes a deep breath. “It wasn’t the guy who moved the car,” she says, once she’s tuned out Hua’s scent trail. “And they didn’t bring Abigail in from this end, but... she’s still down there, I think. I can’t tell if she’s been hurt from here.”

Hua nods and starts down the stairs; Ruby lets her get far enough ahead that if she falls she won’t knock her over, then follows. She’s wishing she’d thought to bring a flashlight before too long; fortunately, Hua’s in the habit of carrying one, and in the worst case she can use her phone.

(It’s not that she can’t see in the dark the rest of the month; it’s that when your enhanced eyesight usually comes in conjunction with a full moon, it’s not always as sharp in darker conditions as non-werewolves might think.)

The tunnel’s a sight to behold; the old mining props really ought to be replaced, if the tunnel’s meant to hold the weight of an office building, and no one ever bothered clearing out all of the old cart tracks. But that’s not so bad, if the mind behind this hasn’t thought far enough ahead to cover his scent trail – and the information Ruby’s nose is getting right now backs that up.

“Follow the tracks,” she says. “Abigail’s still down here. She’s _been_ hurt, but she’s not actively bleeding at the moment.”

“And our conspirators?”

“I don’t think they’re down here at the moment, but you might wanna keep a hand free, just in case.”

Hua nods and starts down the tracks. It feels like an eternity before they find anything, but Ruby figures it’s only a few minutes; this tunnel isn’t that big.

And when they do find something, it’s a doozy: Abigail Nolan, curled up against the tunnel wall. There’s a nasty-looking gash near her right temple, and she looks like she’s struggling to breathe, but she’s alive and conscious. Ruby’s closed out cases in worse condition; she’s already counting this one as a win.

(Of course, they still have to get out of here.)

“Mrs. Nolan?” Hua says, shining the flashlight on Abigail. “We’re here to get you out of here.”

Abigail cracks a smile. “You’ll want to move fast,” she says, wincing – Ruby’s starting to suspect she’s got a cracked rib or two. “George is – coming back.”

“How long do we have?”

“Five minutes, probably. Ten if we’re lucky.”

Hua nods. “Ruby, take her up. I’ll wait for Mr. Nolan.”

It’s the same strategy they used to bust Belle out of the hospital’s mind-wipe wing, so Ruby doesn’t question it; she just heads over to Abigail. “Can you stand?”

“I think so,” Abigail says; when Ruby offers her a hand up, she’s favoring her right foot a little, but not so badly she can’t walk. They’ll be going slowly, and Ruby’s none too pleased about that, but there’s something to be said for the dignity of walking out of a trap. She’s going to give Abigail that courtesy as long as she can.

Even accounting for the slower pace, Ruby feels like it’s taking longer to get out of the tunnel than it did to get to where Abigail was – and then she catches a whiff of the sharp ozone-and-cinnamon scent that comes with magic.

“Dammit! He put a goddamn extending spell on the tunnel!” And Ruby can just barely hear George approaching the spot where he’s expecting his captive and going to find a cop; they probably don’t have to worry just yet, but they will if they can’t get out of this pickle fast.

But instead of getting upset, Abigail just smiles a little. “I’ve got this.”

“You do?”

“You think I’d go up against Regina in a public forum if I couldn’t use at least a couple of her tricks? I don’t have... her particular talent for smashing things to bits, but this should be a piece of cake.”

Ruby shrugs. “Okay. Wouldn’t have seen that one coming, but go to it.”

“I like it when people don’t see it coming.” Abigail moves away from Ruby, to the left-hand wall, feeling along it until she hits a spot that doesn’t _look_ any different from the rest, but when she touches it the scent of magic gets stronger. She steps away from the wall again, keeping her hand level with that spot, then braces herself like she’s going to push against something and pushes.

Ruby sneezes, Abigail sags, and suddenly they’re right in front of the steps.

“I hate to do this,” Ruby says as she moves to pick Abigail up, “but your dear father-in-law’s on his way and after that little stunt I’d rather you didn’t pass out halfway up.”

“Kind of surprised you didn’t do it sooner.” Abigail smiles again, much more weakly than before.

The stairs are too steep for Ruby to want to risk taking them two at a time, but even with Abigail in her arms she can move pretty quickly. “They won’t – have any trouble with that spell, will they?”

“It should be gone now.”

“Good, because I don’t know how to get them out after I hand you off to an ambulance.” There’s no way in hell Ruby’s calling in Mayor Mills on this one, and she can’t think of anyone else who can take down something like that.

Ruby hits the top of the stairs before Hua and George are anywhere near the bottom; it’s not long before they’re up the elevator and out the office building’s door, and then Ruby sets Abigail down on the front steps, fishes out her phone and calls for an ambulance.

“They’ll be here soon,” she says, when she gets off the phone; she sits down beside Abigail and shoots a quick text to Mary to let her know everything’s all right.

“Thank you. For... all of this.”

“Hey, don’t just thank me, thank James. He was worried about you – we wouldn’t have known this was a thing without him.”

“Of course he was worried.” Abigail shakes her head, smiling a little. “We don’t agree on much, but he always wanted to make sure I was doing all right. I hadn’t realized his father would take the divorce this badly.”

Ruby shrugs. “Good news for you is that he didn’t plan for – well, anyone, really.”

“George... has always been very good at making things look good on the surface, but not at making sure the background is in as good of shape. I think that’s what ran him into trouble with the dot-com bubble, now that I know more about it. Honestly, I’m a little amazed you know someone on the police who’s not in someone’s pocket.”

“That’s funny,” Ruby says. “Hua’s too damn honorable to be bought by anybody. Everyone else is pretty much in tight with either Mayor Mills or Gold, and if they turn out to be behind something I’m running down--”

“You want someone to acknowledge it,” Abigail finishes. “Well, depending on how the election goes, you may not have to worry about the mayor’s office stonewalling you for much longer.”

“Well, I think after all this, you got my vote. Good luck.”

Abigail grins. “Thank you.”


	7. Chapter 7

The ambulance pulls up just after Hua hauls George out of the building and into the back of her squad car; once Abigail’s safely handed over to the EMTs, Ruby heads back to her own car and just collapses in the driver’s seat for a minute or so.

_What_ a day.

Just as she’s about to start the car, her phone buzzes a text alert; she has a strict ‘no texting while driving’ policy, so she checks it first. Turns out Mary’s still hanging out with James ( _& no we’re not making out, hes married! stop it!_ ). Ruby laughs, and heads back to the woods rather than her own office. She can write down her notes on the case in James’s RV just as easily as she could there, after all.

She has a feeling she’s going to need them; Hua’s almost certainly going to want Ruby’s rundown of the evidence, since she wasn’t in on it from the beginning. And if George doesn’t somehow keep the kidnapping charges from sticking, she’ll probably have to testify – not that she minds doing that, but at least writing down the bullet points tonight will make everything easier when she needs to recall it months later.

She hopes it does stick. It would be nothing more or less than what George deserves. After the stunt her mother pulled and Mayor Mills’ antics back when she was gunning for Mary’s hide, Ruby has no place in her heart for parents who can’t back the hell off and let their kids be happy.

In some ways, she’s almost glad she never met her father.

The drive through town and back to the woods is peaceful; this time, she pulls her car up next to Mary’s. In the meantime, someone’s gotten Abigail’s car out of the woods – she’s assuming they took it back to her house, but she can follow up on that tomorrow.

Before she gets out of her car, she pulls up the weather app on her phone; it’s supposed to be a clear night, and fairly warm to boot. Good. She’s probably going to need some company. She smiles, gets out of her car and knocks on the RV’s door.

Mary answers; Ruby can tell on her first inhale that while Mary and James may not have been making out, they were sure as hell spending a lot of time snuggling. “Hey! How’d it go?”

“Abigail’s a little banged up, but she’ll be okay. James, your dad’s in custody. I’d say I’m sorry, but all things considered? Not so much.”

“Quite all right,” James says (when Mary steps back from the door to let Ruby in, he puts an arm around her; now that’s interesting). “As long as Abigail’s fine... I’m just glad you actually caught him. I mean, no doubt he’ll call down every contact he has and try to get out of the charges, but it’s the thought that counts.”

“And it’s better than you getting hung out to dry for it. Hua’s going to do her best to make it stick, if I know her.” Ruby likes to think she does know Hua by now, at least as well as anyone who’s not Aurora does. “You still offering that beer? It’s been a long afternoon.”

“Sure.” As James heads for the fridge, he adds, “I was trying to figure things out with Mary, but I’m not sure how fast I’ll be able to actually pay you for this. Since the divorce settlement’s still pending, I don’t know what my budget looks like.”

“Take your time. We’re in no rush and we can work with anything up to and including barter.” Storybrooke’s a small town, and not everyone has the kind of money James is walking away from; Ruby’s learned to work with whatever she can get. (Fortunately, her grandmother knew what to do the one time she ended up with live chickens.) “But if you really feel the need to do something tonight...”

“Ruby!” Mary protests, already beet red, before Ruby can even finish.

“What? I was just going to say we should all three go camp outside tonight. It’s a nice night for it, and I think we could all use the company.”

“You think every night’s a nice night for camping.”

Ruby shrugs. “Not all of them. But tonight’s going to be gorgeous.”

“Well...” James hesitates. “Are you sure no one’s expecting me?”

“Abigail’s going to be fine. She can take care of herself, and tonight, she’s got an entire hospital staff to help her out with that. Besides, will you even be able to get your divorce lawyers in at this time of day?”

“You have a point there – and if I know Abigail at all, she probably just wants to sleep.” James smiles. “Count me in, in that case.”

Mary can’t bring herself to forget the fact that James is still technically married long enough for the night to be particularly interesting – she and Ruby have definitely closed off cases in more remarkable fashion before. But at the same time, Ruby hasn’t felt this comfortable around people in years. There’s just enough chill in the air that they all three stick together, and stay pleasantly warm in doing so.

Once the divorce is out of the way, Ruby doesn’t think it’ll take much to get him back for more.


End file.
